The Monster and the Light
by penny1200
Summary: The alternate long title of this story could be 5 Times Vincent Valentine Lied  and 1 Time He Didn't .  This is a story of the five most important times that Vincent lied throughout his life and the one equally important time when he didn't.


Spoilers: Compliant through FFVII, AC, and DoC.

Disclaimer: I own nothing but the plot. The FFVII franchise is owned by Square/Enix. If I owned it, I'd live in downtown Chicago.

A/N: This is my first Final Fantasy VII fanfic; my focus has always been Glee with a side of Harry Potter. If anyone who's read my stories from the other fandoms reads this, then thank you so much for the additional support! Also, I love reviews; they are my addiction. So, please read and review! Thanks!

The first time that Vincent Valentine lied, he was only five years old. Vincent doesn't remember most of his childhood - that's one of the downfalls of nearly 30 years of immortality - but this is one memory that's stuck with him. His father was always away because of his work, so Vincent didn't get to see him as often as he wanted to. On top of that, he idolized his father. Yes, he loved his mother, but at age five, he had wanted to be just like Grimoire when he grew up. It was love for his father that led him to become a Turk in hopes of discovering what had happened to him. It was also that same love that led to his very first big lie.

It had happened during one of his father's rare trips home. Grimoire had walked through the front door of their little wooden house in one of the nicer surface neighborhoods of Midgar. As he always did, he had kissed Vincent's mother hello and ruffled Vincent's hair. Then, he had taken his briefcase into his study and dropped it on his desk.

The two weeks that followed were as idealic as any in Vincent's childhood, not that he can remember the specifics any longer. He just remembers the time passing in a happy blur until it was once again time to say goodbye. He remembers that part of the visit the clearest of anything in his childhood. The night before Grimoire was due to leave on yet another mission, Vincent's parents shut themselves in their bedroom. At the time, Vincent didn't understand what was going on, and even now, when he understands, he doesn't like to think about it (they were his parents, after all). However, since they were closed off, Vincent was left to take care of himself until they came out again to tuck him into bed.

Vincent had been playing in his room when he realized that he wanted some milk. He knew better than to disturb his parents while they were in their bedroom with the door shut, so he had decided to be a big boy and pour it himself. He was old enough that he could do it without spilling. On his way to the kitchen, he had passed his father's study. The door was open, and he could see his father's briefcase sitting on the desk.

The harmless-looking black leather bag seemed to mock him. While he knows better now, to his five year-old mind, that briefcase was the reason that his father always left him. If he could just get rid of it, maybe his father would stay home. After checking that his parents' bedroom door was still closed, he had entered the study. Unable to reach the bag in the center of the desk, he had climbed up on the heavy chair behind it and then stretched as far as he could. After he got a hold on the handle, he pulled the heavy briefcase toward him, knocking pens and papers off the surface. The case had been heavier than he expected, heavier than his little arms could handle, so he had dropped it to the floor with a loud thud. Climbing back off the chair, he had once again grabbed the handle and dragged the briefcase down the hall to his bedroom.

There wasn't any question on where he was going to hide the evil leather bag. There was only one really good hiding place where his mom wouldn't find it - under the bed. His mother never cleaned under his bed. She said it was too heavy to move, so he knew the case wouldn't be found there. So, he had shoved the briefcase across the carpet, crawling under the bed as he pushed so that it would be against the wall. Then he rearranged his toys so that they would block the briefcase from view. His mission completed and the milk long forgotten, he had gone back to his toy cars.

While Vincent was eating his cereal the next morning, his father had sat down across from him.

"My briefcase has mysteriously disappeared," he opened. "Do you have any idea where it went?"

Eyes focused on his frosted flakes, Vincent just shook his head.

"Well, it couldn't have gotten up and walked away on its own," Grimoire insisted, amusement in his tone.

Vincent met his father's eyes. "It might have; we don't know what it does when we're not with it."

Years later, Vincent still remembers the way his father had smiled at him. Grimoire had postponed his trip by another week to gather up the missing papers and supplies. The briefcase remained under Vincent's bed until the day he moved into his own place. Finding the leather case had been a bittersweet experience - a memory of innocence long gone.

As an adult now, there's not a doubt in his mind that his dad knew exactly what had happened to his briefcase.

Still, as a five year-old, he had felt like the smartest child in the world thanks to his very first lie.

ooooo

Over his years as a Turk, Vincent told a lot of lies. In his mind, they didn't count because they were just part of his job; it's not like he had any sort of personal motivation. So, those lies didn't register in his memory the way the stolen briefcase did.

Perhaps it was karmic retribution that his second important lie marked his life in a way he would never forget.

The story should have been a cliche: boy meets girl, boy falls in love with girl, boy and girl live happily ever after. Maybe it wasn't exciting or original, but Vincent would have been happy with it. He was still capable of believing in happy endings at that point in his life.

The only problem: the cliche didn't take the mad scientist into account.

Maybe Vincent had been too subtle in telling Lucrecia how he felt about her. At the time, he had truly believed that Lucrecia knew based on their time spent under the tree outside of Nibelheim. Even if she had known, she had clearly loved Hojo more.

Hojo. The man who would steal _everything_ from him.

The first time that Vincent saw Lucrecia in Hojo's arms, he hadn't actually told her that he loved her. He thought that was implied by their interactions up to that point. He still remembers the way it felt when he walked into Hojo's office and saw the beautiful brunette burrowed into Hojo's chest as if she hoped never to part from him. It was as if one second he had a heart and the next second...it was just gone.

That was how he knew that his love for her was real: seeing Lucrecia with Hojo caused emptiness instead of pain. It was a deep, aching emptiness that he knew would never go away and that no other woman would ever fill. Lucrecia had been the one bright spot in his life; his love for her had been passionate and all-consuming, if unreturned.

She was happy though, so Vincent told himself a large lie. He told himself that he was happy for her. He wouldn't interfere by trying to take that away.

That lie worked until he saw the pain that she was in. Because he loved her, he confronted Hojo, the man who was supposed to be protecting her since she had chosen him.

The rest, as they say, is history.

History to the world, but a nightmare for him. He had to endure pain beyond anything he'd ever imagined as demons were forced into his mind and body. It didn't take long for him to wish for death, but even that small comfort had abandoned him. Worst of all, he had to watch Lucrecia's pregnancy progress, draining the vibrant life out of her as her due date approached. And he could do nothing to save her.

When Lucrecia placed Chaos in his body, the power overwhelmed him and he escaped. The last thing he remembers is Lucrecia putting him to sleep. He knows now that she used that opportunity to place the Protomateria, the only thing that would calm Chaos, into his body. When Vincent awoke, everyone else had gone. He was left alone, a monster with materia where his heart should be.

So he disappeared into a coffin behind a locked door, hoping no one would ever find him. It was a fitting punishment for failing the woman he loved. For 23 years, he slept in that basement with nothing but his own nightmares for company.

His lie to himself - that he was happy as long as Lucrecia was - was a driving force behind his sin. Maybe if he had been more honest with himself, he could have saved her.

Yes, Hojo stole everything from him, but, to his mind, he had brought it on himself.

And that is one belief that will never die, no matter how long he lives.

ooooo

The third lie that made a large impression on Vincent really shouldn't have. In comparison to many that he had told in the past, it was a tiny lie. There wasn't a single reason in Gaia why it should have affected him. That doesn't change the fact that it did, though.

He had left his basement after 23 years. The only reason he finally stepped out of his purgatory was to fix the mess that he had made with his second lie. The knowledge that Sephiroth, the son of that beloved woman, was terrorizing the planet had awoken the desire to fight in him. He needed to make it right.

He certainly didn't expect to meet people who seemed to care about him, monsters and all.

The lie occurred after Sephiroth's defeat. Two weeks after Meteorfall, they had done all they could to help the citizens in Midgar and Tifa was of the opinion that they needed to celebrate saving the world. The others agreed that with everything they had done they deserved to take at least one night to acknowledge their accomplishments. Plus, as Cid said, booze was good. So, the members of Avalanche gathered in the Kalm bar to escape the reality of the world for one night before they separated.

As the night progressed, it seemed that more and more people gathered in the bar. Some turned out to behold the saviors of the world and others were simply celebrating the fact that they were still alive when just weeks ago they knew they were about to die. Unsurprisingly, Vincent wasn't a big fan of crowds and noise, so shortly before midnight, he decided to leave.

"Vinnie, Vinnie, Vinnie, Vinnie!" a loud voice shouted from nearby.

Halfway to the door, Vincent froze. There was only one person on the planet who called him by that nickname - the only person to ever call him that.

"Vinnie!"

When a pair of arms circled him from behind, Vincent turned around to stare down at a head of shiny black hair. Yes, he had known that had to be Yuffie. She was the only member of Avalanche who called him by that ridiculous nickname and never respected his personal space.

Tipping her head back, Yuffie gazed up at him, a goofy smile on her face.

"Vinnie, Vinnie, Vinnie," she stated and then giggled. "Where ya goin'?"

When Vincent noticed the glazed look in her grey eyes, it hit him that the girl was drunk. She was only sixteen; there was no way the bar would have served her. However, Yuffie was a ninja (even if she was the worst one he'd ever seen). For all he knew, she could have spent the night sneaking any drink that wasn't guarded closely enough.

Prying her arms from his waist, he answered, "I'm going back to the inn, and then I'm leaving Kalm."

Finally disconnecting her ams and backing up, Vincent grabbed her shoulders to hold her steady when she fell forward. Seemingly unconcerned with her lack of balance, Yuffie poked out her lower lip in a pout.

"You were just gonna leave without saying goodbye? That's mean, Vinnie."

Ignoring the accusation in her tone, Vincent scanned the crowded bar. He couldn't just leave her with a bunch of strangers; she was in no state to handle unscrupulous men who might take advantage of her state. When his eyes landed on a petite woman with long, dark brown hair, he began to steer the inebriated teen in her direction.

"I have a phone," she blurted out as a man jostled them.

Vincent could feel her eyes on his face, so without removing his gaze from Tifa, he raised an eyebrow in question.

"You have a phone too, so you have to call me after you leave," she continued.

When Vincent didn't respond, the brunette dug her heels into the floor and refused to move. Stopping, he looked down at the teen. She was frowning.

"You're my friend so you hafta keep in touch. It's a rule," she insisted.

He sighed. Cloud had teamed them often enough for him to know that she was one of the most stubborn people he'd ever met. She probably wasn't going to just let this drop.

"Promise me, Vinnie," she demanded, jerking out of his grip hard enough to fall into the person next to her.

Catching her again, he nodded.

"Fine. I promise I'll stay in touch with you."

The bright smile that broke across the girl's face almost made him feel guilty for the lie. He had no intention of keeping contact with any of them. He may have helped save the world from Sephiroth, but he now had to pay for the sin of contributing to the destruction of his true love's son. He would never atone if he had friends in his life to distract him from what he owed. Lost in his thoughts, Vincent steered Yuffie the rest of the way to Tifa.

"Tifa!" the girl yelled when she recognized the other woman.

Yuffie launched herself out of Vincent's grasp and into Tifa. With some surprise, she caught the teen and met Vincent's eyes.

"What's wrong with her?"

"She's drunk," he stated flatly.

"Oh." Tifa frowned. "I could just kill Barret. He swore he'd keep an eye on her."

As if on cue, a booming laugh drew their gazes to the other end of the bar. They watched as the bear-like man thumped Cloud on the back, shoving his face into his shot glass and knocking it over. When the blond raised his dripping head, his expression was long-suffering.

"I believe he is too far gone to watch anyone," Vincent pointed out dryly.

Tifa just shook her head in disbelief. "I guess it's a good thing I decided to stop after my first two beers."

"I'm not drunk," Yuffie announced suddenly, scooting away from Tifa. "I'm just a little buzzed. _Buzzzz, buzzzz_."

Still giggling and providing her own sound effects, Yuffie lost her balance and fell, landing on her butt. When that just made her laugh harder, Vincent and Tifa both sighed.

"You'll take care of this?" Vincent asked.

Tifa nodded. "I'll make sure she's okay. Thanks, Vincent."

With a nod of his own to acknowledge her gratitude, Vincent walked away.

"Hey, Teef! Vincent said he'd call me!"

Yuffie's enthusiastic last words followed him out the door. He pushed aside any stirrings of guilt about the fact that he had lied to her. After all, she was so drunk that she probably wouldn't even remember it tomorrow.

Yes, there is no clear reason why he should remember that lie as clearly as he does but that doesn't stop it from making his top five list.

ooooo

Two years later, Avalanche gathered for yet another victory party. They were celebrating the destruction of the Remnants, Cloud's defeat of the resurrected Sephiroth, and the cure of Geostigma. The party felt much the same as the first one except for the presence of Rufus and the Turks this time around.

Vincent had spent the preceeding years by himself. He'd had very little contact with humans, with only a couple of notable exceptions such as his rescue of Tseng and Elena in the Northern Crater. His only contact with Avalanche was the occasional phone call to one of the others.

The only person he hadn't had any contact with was Yuffie. The energetic teenager had tried his phone at least once a week since they had defeated Sephiroth. In two years, he hadn't returned even one of her calls but that never stopped her. He wasn't sure why he never answered his phone when she called. If he had to guess, he would say that it was because the others left him alone but Yuffie would force her way into his life if given so much as a sliver of leeway. And her presence would severely impede his ability to atone for his sins in silence.

He wasn't surprised when she slid into the corner booth across from him in Tifa's bar.

"Hey, Vinnie!" she greeted him enthusiastically. "Why're ya sitting here alone? You should be celebrating with everyone else."

The brunette hadn't changed very much in the past two years. She still had the same short black hair and mirthful grey eyes. Hell, she even wore the same style of clothing. For a second, he felt as if he'd been transported back to another celebratory party. The only difference was that this time Yuffie didn't appear to be drunk.

She clearly didn't expect him to answer because she continued.

"You never answered any of my calls."

Her tone was accusatory.

"I was busy."

"Hmm," she murmured, leaning back in her seat and studying him. "I bet you were busy brooding."

Vincent had never liked that term. It implied wasting time over something worthless, and atoning for his sins was hardly a waste of time.

She grinned. "Yep. You were brooding." Yuffie tipped her head back to study the ceiling. "You know, I once watched this show where the main characters all had issues with their pasts. One person had lost the woman he loved and an arm. One had no memory of her past. The final one had experienced betrayal at the hands of the woman he loved, and the man who used to be his best friend tried to kill him. This character went around preaching to the woman with no past that it shouldn't matter that she couldn't remember it. He said that what was important was her future. Yet, at the end of the series, he was the one who couldn't let go of his past. He eventually killed his ex-friend, but he died in the process. With his decision to settle things with his ex-friend, he walked out on his two other friends and what could have been a pretty bright future spent with them."

Vincent listened to her story with interest. Yuffie wasn't the kind of person who usually went off on metaphorical ramblings, so he was curious where she was going with this. At the end of her speech, she lifted her head up and steadily watched him.

"What is your point?" he finally questioned.

Her expression intent, Yuffie leaned forward across the table. He felt as if his eyes were locked to her grey ones.

"People who dwell in the past will eventually be consumed by it, and I don't think Lucrecia would want that to happen to you."

Vincent kept his features carefully blank. Yuffie couldn't possibly understand what she was talking about; she was just a child. Besides, his life was the very least he owed to Lucrecia after failing her.

"You've saved the world twice now; I think it's okay to live again," she finished before leaning back. "Don't you agree?"

Vincent nodded so that she would let it go. He knew that he hadn't made up for his sins yet, but he also knew that she wouldn't leave him alone until he agreed.

Her mood lightened.

"Good." Stretching her arms in front of her, Yuffie scanned the room. "Ooh! There's Reeve. I'm gonna go see if he brought Cait Sith with him."

With that, Yuffie was up and off to annoy the even-tempered man who was deep in conversation with Rufus. Vincent watched with some amusement as she jumped on Reeve's back and reached for something. When she dropped back to the ground, she had the animatronic cat clutched in her hands. Giggling, she took off, leaving Reeve to shake his head in disbelief at her antics.

Three hours and several visitors to his booth later, Vincent stood to leave. When he scanned the room for Tifa, who would have his head if he didn't say goodbye, his gaze snagged on a couple on the dance floor. A petite brunette was wrapped up in the arms of a familiar redhead. The realization that he was looking at Yuffie and Reno, of all people, was a shock to his system. He felt the desire to rip the Turk's arms off. Yuffie was only a teenager.

"Leaving?"

Tearing his eyes from the couple, Vincent met Tifa's gaze.

"Yes. I have things to do."

That was a lie; he had nothing to do. He was just going to head to Lucrecia's cave as he so often did.

"Okay."

Vincent returned his eyes to the youngest member of their group, who was now kissing the considerably older Turk.

"How can you just let them do that?" he asked against his will, glancing down at Tifa. He'd always thought she would protect Yuffie from wolves like Reno.

Her expression was worried, obvious from the way she was nibbling on her bottom lip.

"I can't say that I like the thought of Yuffie with Reno, but what can I do about it? She's eighteen now; she's old enough to make her own decisions," she finally stated in a defeated tone.

Vincent scowled. He had forgotten that Yuffie was technically an adult now. She still acted so much like the sixteen year-old he had left behind two years ago. He couldn't say he was pleased by the thought of her getting involved with other men. He exited, leaving Tifa to worry about Yuffie by herself.

At the time, his lie - that he agreed with Yuffie about letting go of his past - was forgettable. Just like his lie at their previous celebration, it shouldn't have made an impression.

And it probably wouldn't have if it hadn't coincided with his realization that Yuffie was no longer a girl, but a woman he couldn't protect from the world (no matter how badly he wanted to).

ooooo

Deepground happened. Not only was it the third time that Vincent saved the world, but it also marked the loss of Chaos and the end of his immortality. Vincent also learned a few truths about what had happened to him all those years ago and his relationship with Lucrecia. The realization that she truly had wanted him to live, just as Yuffie had said the previous year, had lifted some of his burden from him. Maybe he would never feel as if he had completely atoned for his inaction, but the knowledge that he had Lucrecia's blessing to move on with his life had eased his conscience some.

However, the Deepground incident had also driven home just how much of an adult Yuffie had become. She saved his life - he had never thought her capable of that. When their transport was attacked shortly after, he hadn't hesitated to leave her alone. She could clearly handle herself and the less competent members of the WRO had needed his help.

Then he nearly lost her to Nero's darkness. When it swallowed her, he had felt a panic unlike any that he could remember in recent history. He would never forget the way that she had clung to him when he saved her. Her body was so fragile in his arms and he was reminded that even though she was a strong warrior, she was also still a human meant for the light, not the dark as he was. He entered Weiss's room more determined than ever to end things.

His fifth lie didn't occur at that time but his new way of seeing Yuffie, developed during that time, brought about the lie.

At Cloud and Tifa's wedding two months later, Vincent had a couple of shots of whiskey. He wasn't drunk by any means, but he was feeling pretty good. And Yuffie was looking pretty good in her maid of honor dress. At the end of the reception as he was leaving, he found Yuffie to tell her goodbye. She responded by grabbing his tie and pulling him into a kiss. Long story short, Vincent didn't go back to his room that night.

When he woke up the next morning with a very nude Yuffie wrapped in his arms, he panicked internally. The desire for her had been there for a while, at least since Deepground, but he had never planned to follow through on it. Yuffie was too young and too pure for a monster like him.

He sneaked into the bathroom, and when he returned, Yuffie was awake.

"Hi, Vinnie," she greeted, cheeks red and sheets pulled up around her chest.

He grunted and began to get dressed. He needed to get out of there before he crawled back into her bed the way he wanted to. He was terrifed that if he did he'd never leave, and she deserved better.

"Um," she stumbled, "do you maybe want to get something for breakfast together?"

He shook his head before pulling his shirt on. The silence in the room weighed down on him as he finished dressing.

"Vincent? What's wrong?"

The sound of her voice drew his attention. He faced her but focused on a spot on the wall just to the right of her head.

"Nothing. I just need to get going if I'm going to make it to Junon tonight."

"Oh." Her tone was quiet. "I just thought...last night..."

_You were right, _a voice in his head asserted.

"It was just the alcohol, Yuffie. It didn't mean anything."

Even to his own ears, his tone was icy.

"I...I see. I'm sorry for reading more into it than there was."

Vincent was glad for his ability to remain stoic no matter what was happening. Otherwise, he would have broken at her defeated tone. He couldn't give in; it was for her own good. She deserved so much more than the darkness. He may no longer be immortal, but that didn't mean he was any less of a monster.

When he reached the door, Vincent couldn't resist looking back at her. With the sheets still clutched to her chest, all he could see was her head. Her chin-length hair was disheveled, her lips were still swollen from his kisses, and her grey eyes were watery.

"I'm sorry, Yuffie," he stated. He couldn't stand how broken she looked.

Always strong, her back straightened and her chin came up.

"No, you're not, so leave. Just leave, Vincent; it's what you want."

Just like the two times before, when Vincent walked away, Yuffie thought he was telling the truth.

And just like the two times before, he knew he wasn't.

_It had meant everything_.

ooooo

It's funny how a man's heart can return and he doesn't even know it until it's gone again. Vincent had experienced the phenomenon of losing his heart once before when Lucrecia chose Hojo.

He experienced it again when Yuffie chose Reno.

Again, he had himself to blame. If he had simply been honest with Yuffie and told her how he felt after he slept with her, then she might have chosen him. The thought was a strange one because she was light and laughter and he was darkness and quiet, but maybe it would have worked. Even he could see that she had truly cared for him in the way she had gotten teary-eyed when he told her their night together had meant nothing.

Vincent didn't know if Yuffie had told anyone about that night. Nobody ever acted like they knew about it, not even Tifa. And the martial artist certainly hadn't been slow in telling him when Yuffie started dating Reno. The maternal woman had also been the one to let him know when Yuffie and Reno got engaged.

He had never been more happy that alcohol affected him since Chaos disappeared than he was that day.

The night before the wedding, of which he was a guest, found Vincent sitting alone at the bar in the 7th Heaven. Tifa was the only one still up and she was serving him. After spending the last several hours watching Yuffie and Reno play the happy couple, he needed something to dull the memories.

"So, you're actually going to let her go through with it?"

When Tifa's voice broke with the silence, Vincent looked up at her from where he had been staring morosely into his shot glass. Her whiskey eyes were extremely serious.

"If she's happy..." he stated, lifting his glass in a short salute before draining it.

"Cut the crap," Tifa snapped. "I don't know what happened between the two of you, but I saw you leave my reception together. And Yuffie cried on my shoulder afterward even though she wouldn't tell me what you'd done."

"It's not important," Vincent hedged, sliding his shot glass across the bar to the brunette.

"Clearly it is if it's driven her into a marriage with someone she doesn't love," Tifa pointed out, refilling the glass and passing it back to him.

Vincent bought himself time to think about her words by slowly drinking the whiskey. He didn't know what he thought about her assertions. He had seen with his own eyes the way Reno always had his hands on her.

Finally, he shook his head before responding, "I don't know where you were last night, but they were all over each other."

Tifa rolled her eyes. "Reno was all over Yuffie, and if you had paid any attention to Yuffie, you'd know that her eyes were glued to you the entire time." Her tone gentled. "Yuffie has loved you since she was sixteen. I know you have issues after everything that Hojo did to you, but do you really want to lose her?"

Giving him a moment to absorb her words, Tifa took the empty shot glass from him and started toward the kitchen, effectively cutting him off. When she reached the doorway, she paused to look back.

"If you really want Yuffie to be happy, then do something to fix it. Because, right now, she's not."

With those words, Tifa exited the room, leaving Vincent to contemplate her point.

The next day, Vincent woke with a hangover. Vowing never to drink again, he dressed in the suit he'd brought for the wedding. He'd given a lot of thought to Tifa's words the night before, and he had finally come to a decision. He needed to find Yuffie before she walked down that aisle.

Luckily, Tifa was happy to point him in the right direction with minimum gloating. As he left her, he was pretty sure he heard her mention something about getting rid of the redheaded turkey. Apparently she didn't like Reno any more now than she had when Yuffie had first danced with him. The thought pleased him.

He found Yuffie sitting in a tree in the nearby park. According to Tifa, that was where the ninja went any time she was feeling upset or wanted to think. Staring up into the branches, Vincent could just barely see her orange tennis shoe through the leaves and the glare of the sunlight. The corner of his lip quirked just slightly. She may have grown up, but she still wore those ridiculous shoes and, for some reason, seeing them was heartening. It showed that some of her innocence had survived all of the trials she'd been through.

"What do you want, Vincent?" she asked, startling him. He hadn't known she'd registered his presence.

Taking a deep breath, he gathered up his courage to say what he had to say. He wondered when the tiny brunette had become so intimidating and figured it was probably about the time that he realized she was a very beautiful woman.

"I wanted to talk to you."

"So talk."

"I just wanted to say..." he hesitated, his eyes focused on that orange shoe. Why was this so difficult? "Congratulations," he finished lamely.

Cursing himself internally, he walked away. He only got five feet before he heard a soft thud behind him and then Yuffie suddenly appeared in front of him.

"What the hell was that?" she shouted, poking him hard in the chest. "You track me all the way to the park to tell me congratulations? Congratulations? I don't believe you. Why did you really come out...mmph."

Vincent had quieted Yuffie by fiercely lowering his lips to hers. He knew he had stunned her because she stiffened in his arms, but as he kept the pressure up, she melted into him, sliding her arms up around his neck. When she parted her lips slightly on a gasp, he took immediate advantage to slip his tongue into the warmth of her mouth. She tasted as good as he remembered. All too soon, they had to part for air.

"Vinnie?" Yuffie asked, panting slightly.

Her clear grey eyes were wide with surprise. Vincent knew that it was now or never. If he wanted any hope of a future with Yuffie, he had to tell her the truth - no more lies.

"I love you," he stated simply. "Don't marry him."

Yuffie's face broke into a wide smile.

"Okay then," she replied just as easily.

Reaching for her left hand, Vincent slid the gaudy diamond ring off her finger.

"You don't need this anymore."

He dropped the ring into her palm. She studied it for a moment and then placed it in her pocket. Grabbing his hand, she pulled him across the park. Just inside the gate, she stopped and faced him.

"Oh! I almost forgot!" she exclaimed. "I love you too."

When she pulled him down to her lips again, Vincent thought about his history.

He had made a career out of lying, and two of them had cost him nearly everything.

The one time he had told the unvarnished (terrifying) truth, he had regained everything.

And then all thought disappeared when Yuffie's tongue slid against his lips. 


End file.
